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Tag: Inspiration
17 Risks Every Leader Should Take
We make decisions all day that will affect the rest of our lives.
These decisions have to be thought through in order for us to have the life we want.
They affect our self-esteem, relationships, career, lifestyle, … our everyday.
The truth is, there is always an element of risk in everything that we do.
Wondering what are the risks that every leader should take?
1. Bet on yourself
The best bet you can take is on yourself.
Indeed, you are your best tool for success even if you cannot predict the future or the outcome of your decision.
If you want to achieve great things, you must first believe in yourself then make sure that you are always performing at your best.
2. Get to know yourself better
Getting to know yourself better means trying new activities, seeing what you like and dislike, what you are good at or not.
Being authentically yourself requires courage and the belief that nobody needs to like you.
3. Improve on yourself
Change is scary for most people.
When you try to improve on yourself, the people around you will resist that change, may even think that you are crazy and may not recognize you.
They will pressure you to revert to your old self. You will risk losing friends and family in order for you to grow and to feel good about yourself.
4. Reinvent yourself
Don’t do what is expected of you.
Your life will be dull if you did what everyone else wanted of you.
Your friends and family certainly have your best interest at heart but most of the time they can stunt your growth and bring down your expectations so you don’t outgrow them, so you don’t change.
To break these expectations, start doing things that your entourage will laugh or look down upon.
5. Put yourself out there
Everyone observes and judges others at some point in their life. Honestly, we all do it whether we mean to do it or not.
Everybody criticizes. Criticism can be negative or positive but it can sometimes be useful.
It only hurts if you let it or if you agree with the criticism.
So, put yourself out there:
- Risk of being judged or appearing foolish.
- Don’t be afraid to look stupid doing something.
6. Pursue your dreams
Don’t live in regrets and what ifs.
You don’t want to get old and realize that you didn’t do what you set out to do.
Furthermore, the happiest or most content people are driven, purposeful and allow themselves to dream and act upon their dream.
There comes a point in time when you have to chose between your goals and your friends. You have to know that it is OK to miss out on fun events with friends and family in order to work on your goals and advance your purpose.
7. Admit your mistakes
When you take risks, you will always make mistakes.
Mistakes are signs that you are human, trying new things and getting our of your comfort zone.
Sometimes, we think that there is no going back from our mistakes, we cannot move on and we cannot be forgiven for what we have done.
You will ever know if you don’t take the risks and ask for forgiveness.
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8. Learn to forgive
When other people on your team make mistakes, you must learn to give them a second chance.
The risk or the certainty is that they will mess up again but they will have enough confidence to fix their mistakes.
Consequently, they will trust you more, be more creative and forgive you more when you make a mistake.
9. Show emotion
In the workplace, showing emotion is risky because people will tend to use them against you.
In order to not be taken advantage of, you really have to own them and discipline yourself.
10. Ask questions
Leaders must acknowledge that they don’t know everything.
They must therefore listen, ask questions and value their employees.
It’s better to ask questions and look dumb for a few minutes than say nothing and be dumb for a lifetime.
11. Speak up
Leaders must speak truth to power, speak with truth, power, integrity and transparency.
They must stand up for what they believe in and speak up when it’s right even when it’s hard to do.
In addition, they express their opinion, don’t try to manage other people’s feelings and opinions: they say what they mean and mean what their say.
People who are able to speak up confidently, say what bothers them and what doesn’t are the people who usually go far in life.
12. Analyze opportunities
Before taking any risks, you must always analyze the pros and the cons of your decisions.
You have the right to say no to opportunities that don’t fit you.
You have the duty to say yes more often to things that scare you.
Just remember that you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.
13. Risk rejection
If you haven’t been rejected in life, then you haven’t done anything worthwhile.
You have to dare to apply to jobs you don’t have the qualifications for, talk to people outside your circle with different affinities.
If people don’t return your interests, then they are the ones missing out.
14. Let go of things you cannot control
You must take the risk that everything will work out on its own and you don’t have to control everything.
15. Don’t be afraid of getting hurt
Taking risks implies that you will be vulnerable most of the time.
In other words, it means that you open yourself up to get hurt.
Because pain is inevitable, you can go for it and perform at the best of your abilities.
16. Overcome your fears one by one
You will not feel confident going towards your fears. However, once you have faced your fears, you will feel good about yourself and be ready to take on any life challenges.
In reality, your fears are not as bad as you think and facing them help you build confidence.
Most of the time, your mind and your ego are exaggerating your fears to protect you.
17. Travel
Travelling allows you to reframe your mindset, to learn new things and meet new people.
It also allows you to try out different versions of yourself.
It costs money but it is totally worth it.
Last Words Of Advice!
Life is an adventure! Don’t live in regrets and live your life to the fullest.
Taking risks is the best chance you have to get to know yourself, predict the future and achieve your highest potential.
The bigger the risk, the bigger the reward.
Hope that I’ve helped you get it together on your way to leadership!
Don’t forget to like, share and leave a comment below.
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12 Ways Leaders Live Life To The Fullest
Leaders are generally very busy and have a tendency to spread themselves pretty thin.
They dabble in multiple activities but don’t take the time to relax and to smell the flowers.
While achieving their goals, it seems that they forget to live life to the fullest and can hardly make the difference between Monday, Friday or Saturday.
Wondering how leaders live their life to the fullest?
Living life to the fullest means that you go after what you want without letting fear get in the way.
1. Leaders focus on themselves
Leaders work towards their goals everyday, focus on themselves and not on others.
Leaders who live their life to the fullest focus their time and energy on things that matter.
In Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit Of Less, Greg Mckeown urges us to discipline ourselves, to be selective of the activities that you partake in.
2. Leaders give way to their imagination
Leaders don’t downsize their dreams.
Instead, they dream so big that it scares them.
They expect great things from themselves.
They are just convinced that they will succeed no matter what.
3. Leaders are self-assured
They don’t care what others think about them and don’t live by other people’s expectation.
In addition, they say yes to opportunities that they want, they don’t settle for less, for people or a job they don’t respect.
Furthermore, leaders don’t complain, make excuses, or procrastinate.
4. Leaders go after what they really want
Life is shorter than we think. Years go by in a blimp and leaders know that.
I can hardly remember what happened last year and the year before that.
All I know is that I didn’t do what I really wanted to do.
To go after what they really want, leaders:
- Maximize their potential
- Choose their job and activities carefully (if they can).
- Are selective of whom and what they give their energy to.
5. Leaders do something that they really enjoy everyday
If you like to read like I do, you can take time off at lunch or in the commute to read and to unwind.
Their life choices are not tied to monetary issues.
6. Leaders don’t take life too seriously
Leaders have huge responsibilities.
Paradoxically, they don’t take life too seriously.
Leaders learn to laugh at themselves and their circumstances.
They relax when they have to, and don’t succumb to negative emotions and behaviors.
For them, being positive is a state of mind but most importantly it’s a choice.
7. Leaders walk in their purpose
Leaders live life from the inside out: they know that how they think will demonstrate itself.
Therefore, Every little thing that they do had purpose.
They stick to their system of values and live in alignment with their purpose.
They have clear defined values and a personal mission statement that they live by.
8. Leaders are present
Leaders consider everyday to be a new day.
They don’t let life rule them, they stay present and don’t look back at the past failures.
9. Leaders are forgiving
They do not hold on to past hurts, memories and to people who degrade them.
10. Leaders are authentic
They are committed to grow.
They don’t want to live someone else’s life.
They don’t want to be surrounded by people they don’t like or respect.
11. Leaders are people persons
They enjoy alone time.
They surround themselves with people who push them to grow, to be better and to do better.
12. Leaders are curious
Leaders get out of their comfort zone.
They seek to know more and to upgrade their mindset.
Last Words Of Advice!
We all have an idea of the person we want to become in life.
Don’t wait to have everything 100% in place to behave like your ideal self.
Remember, it’s your life and you create your own life experiences.
Hope that I’ve helped you get it together on your way to leadership!
Don’t forget to like, share and leave a comment below.
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Quote Of The Week #112
10 Ways Leaders Manifest Their Visions
Everyone has the ability to manifest their vision.
With that knowledge, leaders just don’t dream about their goals.
Against all odds, they are able to attract what they want.
They support their dreams with actions, put forth the time and energy towards their goals. They watch what they say to themselves about themselves.
Wondering how leaders attract what they want and need out of life?
We have all heard of the Law of Attraction.
It consists in bringing your deepest desires into reality by focusing your thoughts on them. To manifest your vision, you have to strongly believe that this is what you really want and this is your true purpose.
For example, you can manifest the perfect relationship or on the job you want by focusing positive thoughts and sending positive intentions its way.
1. Leaders are honest with themselves
Be honest with yourself because the truth will set you free.
Everything around is only a reflection of who you truly are. So be who you want go attract.
If you are not aware of your strengths and weaknesses, you will not achieve your goals.
If you are not an improved person you cannot expect the best of the best. You will only get the best for your level.
2. Leaders are grateful for what they have
They are always grateful for what they have no matter how small their possession.
They let go of control and are open to receive what is coming to them.
You can cultivate the habit of making a gratitude list. A simple list can be:
I am grateful for the clothes on my back.
I am grateful to be alive.
I am grateful for my serenity.
I am grateful for my health.
I am grateful for my team and business.
After writing your list, read it everyday and change your mindset instantly.
3. Leaders value their imagination
Leaders are naturally dreamers.
They allow themselves to dream big.
They use their imagination for their benefit.
Indeed, your imagination is the best tool that you have at your disposal that nobody can take away from you.
Leaders use their imaginations all the time to escape, to motivate their team and to build products, companies.
Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand. - Albert Einstein Click To Tweet4. Leaders live as if their dreams have come through
Because the universe conspires with you on what you want to attract, they act up as if they have already achieved their required level if success.
They fake it until they make it. For example, they will dress for the position they want to have.
5. Leaders focus on their goals
Leaders place their focus on the essentials.
Furthermore, they focus on themselves and don’t compete with others.
They understand that whatever they put their attention on is what is going to grow.
They have a vision or dream board that help them see things more clearly.
They tend to place them in the area that you can always see and visualize yourself in that situation.
6. Leaders believe in intuition
They trust their intuition.
They listen to their feelings and do whatever resonates with them.
If they have negative vibes about a situation, they immediately take a step back and analyze the situation.
7. Leaders monitor their thoughts
They meditate and actively monitor their thoughts.
When a thought comes through that bring up negative emotions, they are instantly aware. Then they fight their negative voice in their head or sleep to give their mind a rest or exercise to get rid of cortisol.
In addition, leaders constantly elevate their own mood. To make themselves feel better, they use positive words of affirmation.
To elevate your mood, you can read books that comfort you and make you feel better about yourself.
You can carefully choose your activities, music and TV shows, screen what you put in your mind because it programs you.
8. Leaders live a life of abundance
They are conscious of their personal power and are at peace with themselves.
Furthermore, they walk with integrity, don’t harm anyone and mind their actions. They believe that what they put out is what they will come back to them.
They are conceived that they will succeed. They are cognizant that something great is on its way.
They don’t set your thoughts on want is missing or on want others want from them.
They are not easily offended or don’t think that they are victims of their circumstances.
9. Leaders know that words have power
They are conscious of the power of their words and choose their words carefully.
Indeed, if you say, “I’m so tired” you will eventually be exhausted for the whole day. If you say, “I’m stressed out” you will definitively be overwhelmed by stress.
To manifest what you really want, start saying and doing how you want to feel and what you want to do.
10. Leaders are altruistic
They care for people other than themselves.
The process of caring for others take them out of their negative space and environment.
For instance, they help their team and people in their communities.
Last Words Of Advice!
When things are not going your way or you are not achieving your goals, know that you can always turn things around, improve your mindset, achieve your purpose and find your peace.
Fight negativity. Show yourself some love.
Hope that I’ve helped you get it together on your way to leadership!
Don’t forget to like, share and leave a comment below.
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Quote Of The Week #111
Quote Of The Week #109
How To Invest In Yourself : 10 Best Ways To Guarantee Success
We all want to achieve success in life.
We want the corner office, the big house, the nice car, respect, money, …
But we don’t want to make the effort necessary for success.
Nor do we understand that success starts with us.
In reality, investing in yourself is the best way to achieve success by helping you to become the best version of yourself.
Wondering what are the best ways to invest in yourself?
Investing in yourself is realizing success in all areas of your life. It means:
- Becoming your best self.
- Getting to know who you truly are.
- Maximizing your talents.
- Achieving your purpose.
- Making yourself more valuable to people.
1. Understand that you are the greatest asset you can ever ask for
First of all, you are the greatest investment you can ever make.
Investing in yourself will ensure long term happiness, purpose and financial stability.
2. Take the pressure off
You are not going to be the best or the most improved person just in one day.
- Acknowledge that there is always room for improvement.
- Understand that you are doing the best you can with the tools that you have.
- Take the pressure off and start your journey where you are emotionally, physically, mentally, financially.
- Don’t dwell on past mistakes. Look at your failures as an opportunity to grow.
3. Follow your purpose
The best way you can use your money is on yourself and on your purpose.
Besides, whenever you follow your purpose, the money automatically follows.
To fulfill your purpose:
- Identify your strengths and weaknesses.
- Don’t take a job just for the paychecks.
- Set goals for yourself to fulfill your plans.
4. Take care of your mind
Take care of your mind and identify what you need to succeed.
- Take time off to renew your mind.
- Discipline your emotions so you can respond to negativity appropriately.
- Stay true to yourself and grow your mindset.
- Let go of the past and be grateful for your present.
- Feed your inner spirit. Meditate and speak words of affirmations on your life.
5. Educate yourself to the fullest
Knowledge is better than riches and cannot be taken away from you.
So, to invest in yourself, you have to learn and develop new skills that sill serve you in all areas of your life.
You can attend classes and apply for training sessions online for free.
You can also go to different events to network with people and to listen to their experiences.
Finally, you can read a book at least 15 minutes per day. Reading and studying blogs and books will increase your skills. There is always hidden knowledge in books.
6. Travel as much as you can
To invest in yourself, start travelling and experiencing new cultures.
When you travel, you open yourself up to new people, new ideas, new solutions.
This will broaden your experiences and will help you understand a different culture, talk to people of all walks of life, become more diplomatic and more culturally sensitive.
Travel is the best investment you can make in yourself. It teaches you that there are many ways to live a good, fulfilled life. It broadens your world view, yet makes you appreciate home all the more. - Joel Sartore Click To Tweet7. Stay organized
When investing in yourself, it is essential to:
- Manage your time effectively. Schedule your time with the tasks that you need to do. You don’t need to put a time frame in each task but start with the most important one.
- Take care of your environment. Clean up your mess. Make your bed as soon as you wake up. Clean up your environment. A messy environment has a way of cluttering your mind.
8. Take care of your body
Health is wealth so it becomes imperative to take care of your health, to exercise and to eat healthy.
Exercising first thing in the morning energizes you, boosts up your confidence and gives you a running start on your day.
Eating healthier and working out may cost more but are a long-term investment.
9. Take care of your relationships
Relationships can take your career or your hustle to the next level. Therefore, when you are investing in yourself, you may want to:
- Meet people who will get you out of your comfort zone.
- Monitor where you spend your time and the people who surround you.
- Analyze how you feel after an interaction. You may have to eliminate people or activities who do not bring any value to you.
10. Find a role model
To figure out his to invest in yourself, you must find the right mentors and the right role models.
You can even invest in a coach to learn and produce faster results.
Additionally, you can hire someone who you trust, who is living the life you want, who have the character that you want.
Last Words Of Advice!
The moment you start investing in yourself, the more you will gain respect, money and manifest positive opportunities so you can experience life to the fullest.
Don’t wait to invest in yourself!
Hope that I’ve helped you get it together on your way to leadership!
Don’t forget to like, share and leave a comment below.
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Quote Of The Week #104
11 Powerful Ways Successful Leaders Build Self-Awareness
Becoming self-aware is an active and conscious process.
Self-awareness is the ability to get in touch with your authentic self, to clearly assess your strengths, weaknesses, core values, relationships and limitations.
It is a skill that improves job satisfaction, mental health, your relationships and understanding of others.
Wondering how great leaders acquire self-awareness?
The benefits of self-awareness
Self-awareness helps you identify your passions, bring out your authentic self, open yourself to learning, receive honest feedback and detach yourself from the opinion of others.
Furthermore, self-aware leaders are emotionally intelligent, lead with confidence and compassion, understand that leadership is an ongoing process, upgrade their organization and uplift their teams.
Self-aware leaders understand how their behavior affect the people around them and subsequently have great people skills.
Self-aware leaders may not climb the ladder faster but they may gain more respect and trust from their peers.
Basically, they are the opposite of toxic leaders because they constructively acknowledge, process and manage their emotions.
How do leaders acquire self-awareness?
There are a few steps to take for you to acquire more self-awareness.
1. Look for patterns in your behavior
Sometimes, we are so busy fighting off whatever is coming at us to realize that we are having reoccurring experiences and events, that we are holding on to negative assumptions and beliefs.
In order to stay focused and be ready for any life challenges, we have to take time to identify our triggers and track our patterns of behavior.
To see positive and negative patterns in your behavior., you can hold a journal and write about yourself objectively.
2. Take a self-awareness assessment tool
Self-awareness assessment tools give you an insight into your personality type, your character, the way you handle different situations.
They help you discover your strengths, weaknesses and hidden passions.
The StrengthsFinder, StandOut, DISC Profiles and Emotional Intelligence are great tools that have been used by most organizations.
3. Stay focused and practice self-discipline
Self-discipline will help you monitor your emotions and get them under control.
Your goals and purpose will give you enough motivation to practice self-discipline.
4. Detach yourself from your thoughts
You cannot control everything but you can control the way you respond to life circumstances.
That is why you must detach yourself from your thoughts so you can accept them.
5. Be confident in your abilities
People may be better than you at different things.
But there is only one you and that is your superpower.
To grow confidence in your abilities:
- Embrace your strengths and weaknesses.
- Find ways to put them to work.
- Admit your mistakes and seek out continual improvement.
- Be compassionate towards yourself and simply revisit your core values.
6. Observe how you affect your surroundings
Sometimes, we want to talk about topics that matter to us, connect with people who make sense or belong to a group.
However, people are not always receptive to you because there is a margin between how we are and how we are perceived, because of their own insecurities, assumptions and lack of self-awareness.
It is up to you to determine using your self-awareness, whether or not you can be your best self or you want to belong.
To be mindful of your actions and words;
- Understand how your behavior and words can be misinterpreted and when it is time to stand up for yourself.
- Acknowledge that by getting to know yourself better, you will get to know others as well, to interpret their verbal and nonverbal cues.
7. Don’t make assumptions about people
This will help you make better decisions, navigate office politics, empathize for others, build improved teams and find team members who complement you.
8. Stay curious
There is no way you can fully get to know yourself and others.
Stay open-minded and give yourself enough space to step out of your comfort zone.
9. Don’t ignore your intuition
Your intuition sends information that you have not or don’t know how to process.
Your intuition is there to protect you and is right most of the time.
10. Ask for feedback
Leaders tend to ask for less feedback, to become less self-aware the more experience and the more power that they wield.
It becomes detrimental for them to ask for feedback from people they trust and respect.
11. Commit yourself to growing
Nobody is perfect. The people who have arrested their development are the people who need the most improvement.
Leadership is a long journey. You must always figure out what you can do to make things better and what you can do differently.
Last Words Of Advice!
It is goof to check in with yourself from time to time.
- Take time off in solitude to confront your decisions, to measure your progress and to reignite your fire.
- Recall the times that you felt your best and operated at your peak performance.
- Stephen R. Covey, in the The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, said it best: “Begin with the end in mind”.
- If you won the lottery today, what would you do with your life.
Hope that I’ve helped you get it together on your way to leadership!
Don’t forget to like, share and leave a comment below.
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